Mars One Mission Selection Will Be A Reality TV Show

Ever wish that reality TV stars could be hurtled off to Mars with no possibility of ever coming back? They’ve made a show out of it. Via the Telegraph:

Mars One hopes to announce a Big Brother-style reality show to help choose which of the 1,058 candidates for the one-way trip to Mars in 2025 will be among the 40 who make the final selection, with viewers voting on who should colonise the Red Planet.

Paul Römer, co-creator and the first producer of The Big Donor Show and the Big Brother, is an ambassador for the project. CEO Bas Lansdorp has said: “We’re in advanced negotiations with a major studio for an overall deal for film and television properties.”

1,058 candidates survived the round one application process, which has weeded out more than 200,000 people since April last year. Organisers said they ruled out anyone “not taking the mission seriously”. The shortlisted candidates come from 107 countries.

The best thing for ratings will be to cast innately conflicting, over-the-top personalities. None of them will survive in that case, but it will make for excellent television.

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Without one technological innovation which may or may not be available by the time the reality show stars go to Mars, their survival chances suck anyway.

They need at least a low-g continuous acceleration space drive to keep the Earth-Mars transit time down to a few weeks.

Historically, colonies which are more than a few weeks away from the homeland tend to die. That’s one reason why successful colonization in North America didn’t happen until navigation/sailing ship tech didn’t happen until the 1600s. Something always goes wrong if it takes too long for resupply.